


She Was Enough

by SnowyCrocus



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Anxiety, Ice Bros - Freeform, platonic friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 07:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19421158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyCrocus/pseuds/SnowyCrocus
Summary: After Kristoff rescues Anna and abandons Elsa (in the trailer), Elsa comes to terms with the fact that she's just not part of Anna and Kristoff's family. Or is she?





	She Was Enough

It was inevitable, she knew. Only a matter of time.

A lot can happen in three years. She should know.

In three years, powers can grow from weak and sporadic to raging and unpredictable. The desire for conversation and hugs turns to total want of isolation.

Beloved daughter to orphan.

Princess to Queen.

But that was just her. Other people? Well, in three years, _other_ people grow up and find love. Fall in love with that special someone, discover someone who satiates your longing, who fills the wants you’ve had all your life. Someone who is always there.

For everyone but herself, that is.

_Always_ everyone but her.

The changes happened slowly, but after three years those little changes pile up and become big ones.

Anna spent more and more time out in the stables or off in the forest. Of course she saw that Anna missed her while she was away, but she couldn’t help but notice the warm glow and lingering smile Anna had after her extended trips out to see a certain someone.

It hurt when, just when she _finally_ began craving touch again, Anna started to take Kristoff’s hand instead of her own.

But she would never say anything. How could she? After abandoning her sister for so long, she had _no_ right to suddenly stake claim over her sister. It was her own fault for missing out on those years when her sister craved her company. Why, now, should she deny her sister her love for another man?

And that man himself grew less and less shy about courting her sister.

As ice master and deliverer (a title which she _very_ _cleverly_ invented for the man to whom she owed _so_ much), Kristoff checked in with her quarterly with reports. The first couple of times, he would leave her with a steadily-improving bow and a ‘thank you, Your Majesty.’

That line was later replaced with a ‘do you happen to know where Princess Anna is?’

And she told him, because he deserved to know. They were good, normal people, who deserved to do normal things like fall in love and feel wanted.

And she taught Kristoff to read – explained _carefully,_ and _slowly,_ and _patiently_. She spent hours writing practice letters and lines and seeking out easier books that would be good for him.

She tried to not feel too put-out when he began practicing with Anna instead.

She was always picked last for charades (and Sven couldn’t even _talk!)_. They asked her when she was going to start being courted, and she didn’t have an answer. Anna didn’t come to her bed at night anymore to cuddle. She had no one to hold when she had a bad dream. No one picked flowers for her or stroked her hair. Kristoff grew less impressed with her ice and more with Anna’s figure. Anna wanted to spend her birthday in a neighboring kingdom, and she couldn’t even go due to meetings the following day.

She was left behind.

She always was.

It was _almost_ okay. She had _almost_ accepted it.

It didn’t hurt as much, anymore.

But now, as she huddled in the smoking wreckage of trees and bushes around her, struggling to breathe and not to cry from the searing pain of the burns on her skin, Pabbie’s words came back to her.

_‘We have always feared Elsa’s powers were too much for this world. Now we must hope they are enough.’_

They were never enough.

_She_ was never enough.

Well, she thought to herself as she sucked in air through her teeth and dug her fingernails into her palms from the pain, _at least they’ll have each other._

That’s what she wanted most – for her sister to be happy. Her sister deserved all that and the world after what she put her through. After how she ignored her for years, made her feel unwanted and unloved. Made her go to their parents’ funeral alone, struck her _twice_ , and actually _killed_ her.

The salty tears that streamed down her face burned the already stinging skin on her cheeks. She coughed harshly as the smoke grew thicker.

The pain and lack of air made her head and mind fuzzy, and she startled some time later upon realizing that not only was she still alive, but that someone was _very_ gently easing a sticky salve onto a particularly nasty burn on her leg.

The air was still thick and hazy with smoke, but she could just make out the sweaty mess of blonde hair on his head. “ _Kristoff?”_

She began to cough again and groaned from the pain.

“Sssshhh,” He responded. “Try not to talk.” He gingerly wrapped a rag around her tended-to leg and began working on another spot on her hand.

She hissed at the probing of his fingers in the wound and ignored him. “Why are you here!? Where’s Anna?”

He rolled his eyes at her obstinacy and continued on with his work. “She’s back at the castle. Safe.” She relaxed.

“The guards are stationed just a mile away,” he said. “They couldn’t come with us here or we’d attract attention.”

She simply nods, too wracked with pain from his touch and simply too overwhelmed to respond at first.

She tries her best to bite back a scream when he suddenly lifts her into his arms like she weighs no more than his lute. It comes out a bit like a strangulated moan but no one attacks them. He loads her up onto Sven before joining her from behind to make sure she doesn’t fall off.

“Why did you…come back for me?” She manages the question after Sven’s taken a few steps and she’s gotten used to his clumpy rhythm.

_“What?”_

“Why did-”

He cuts her off. “No, I heard you. I just – how can you ask that? Of _course_ I came back for you.”

“Why?” She thinks of seeing Anna back at the castle. She never thought she would see her sister again.

“Because – Elsa, how can you ask me that? Because you’re Anna’s sister and she loves you-”

Of course. Anna sent him back to get her. Anna was always looking out for her, even when her life would be so much easier without her problematic older sister.

“-and you’re _my_ sister and _I_ love you.”

That causes her to draw a sharp breath and Kristoff mistakenly checks her for something wrong.

“You…you do?” She asks weakly.

In the distance she can see the formation of her soldiers. Waiting to take her home. To see Anna.

“Of course I do, Elsa,” Kristoff huffs, frustrated, in her ear. “Why do you always think….nevermind. We love you. We’re not going to let anything break us apart. We’re _family.”_

As they approach the guards who begin to discuss how to best bring her back safely, she thinks of home. Of her _family._

She was _enough_.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I was trying to also express here that, even after three years, Elsa still doesn’t see herself as others see her; she is too anxious and hard on herself to fully believe that she is wanted and valued. Kristoff knows this to be an inherent part of her - therefore, he deals with it, but it frustrates him that Elsa can be so self-deprecating. But he loves her all the same. Hopefully in time she will come to realize just how very loved she is!!
> 
> Thank you all for reading. Any and all comments greatly appreciated - I really would love to hear what you think and/or reactions, theories, etc.


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